Today as part of our presentation at the Parliament of World Religions in Salt Lake City we were most honored to present our Torch Bearer Award to Joan and David Lincoln, whose service to Arizona, America, and the highest in humanity is an inspiration to all.
We are so proud of Joan and David’s role as the visionary and motivating force to create Claremont Lincoln University, a university that reflects the power and potential of the Golden Rule, treating others as you would like to be treated. They believe the outcome of this approach to education will be tolerance and respect among different cultures & religions and the ability to better address global problems where collaboration and cooperation are needed to reach solutions and repair the world.
After the presentation David said "Many thanks for honoring Joan and me with the Torch Bearer Award. It is very meaningful and puts us in great company. The founder, Sri Chinmoy, had an excellent vision and created a movement to make it come true. I hope we can do as well with Claremont Lincoln University. Sri is a real role model to emulate."
Over the course of his life, David Lincoln has worn many hats: He is a Cal Tech educated engineer, entrepreneur, philanthropist, venture capitalist, education advocate, and non-profit leader. His companies and other interests have been tremendously successful, not only due to his entrepreneurship, business acumen and management practices, but also his ethical commitment to advancing the common good. In his usual clear and concise style, David often says, “Good ethics is good business.”
But David could not have done it alone. Joan Lincoln, a professional ceramist educated at Scripps College, was active in the arts and community of Paradise Valley, Ariz., serving as an elected member of the city council for ten years and then as mayor. In arts and activism, she too made her mark. David and Joan have used their successes to fund forward-thinking donations to a number of non-profits and educational institutions. David’s collective years of volunteer service on boards add up to at least 200 years.
Joan was unable to attend so we had a photo of her on site so she could feel part of it.
We hope readers will visit Claremont Lincoln University’s website at claremontlincoln.org to learn more about three unique Master’s Degrees in Ethical Leadership, Interfaith Action, and Social Impact which can be earned on-line from any country around the globe.
As part of our broader presentation entitled Sri Chinmoy: "The Path of the Heart" Kusumita Pedersen, who serves on the Board of Trustees for the Parliament Of the World's Religions, introduced our session. Kusumita is a Professor of Religious Studies at St. Francis College in New York and is currently Co-Chair of the Interfaith Center of New York.
Utsahi Nerée St-Amand, a Professor of Social Work at the University of Ottawa, spoke about how Sri Chinmoy had inspired him to both participate in running events as well as to organize them and serve the running community. Utsahi has been organizing the Ottawa Sri Chinmoy 24 Hour Race now for many years.
Tahereh Ziaian is a Professor of Pychology at the School of Nursing and Midwifery at the University of South Australia, Adelaide. She is a community health psychologist with training in counseling and psychology and a progressive commitment to cross-cultural psychology and public health research. Originally from Iran, Tahereh shared her journey to spirituality and the impact Sri Chinmoy's teachings have had upon her.
Peace Run Executive Director, Salil Wilson, led a meditative exercise where the participants interpreted music they where listening to through artistic creations using crayons and paper.
We all read selected writings from Sri Chinmoy.
A big part of the Parliament was the daily "Langar" which was lunch provided by the Nishkam Centre, a U.K. based Sikh organization.
Tibetan Monks, disciples of His Holiness the Dalai Lama, made an exquisite mandala
Booth sharing Sri Chinmoy's prodigious creative output in music, art and writing.
